Article carrier handle

ABSTRACT

An improved carrying handle for an article carrier of the type having an opening in the upper portion thereof whereby the user inserts his fingers in the opening of the carrier in order to transport the carrier. The carrier handle comprises a pair of inclined openings which are so designed that the tab formed from the opening bridges the gap from one side of the carrier to the other side to cushion the fingers of the user against the weight of the article. The angle of the tabs also allows the weight of the carrier to be evenly distributed on the fingers of the user since the tab angle corresponds to the natural angle of the fingers in the clasped position.

United States Patent Graser [451 Oct. 17, 1972 [541 ARTICLE CARRIER HANDLE 3,164,290 1/1965 Paredes ..206/65 C inventor: Earl J. Graser, Monroe, La. [731 Assign: 1,512,s93 2/1968 France ..206/6.5 E [22] Filed: July 23, 1971 Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Leclair [21] Appl 165541 Assistant Examiner-Stephen Marcus Attorney-N. E. Von Behren [52] US. Cl. .;...229/52 B, 206/65 E, 224/45 AB,

229/40 [57] ABSTRACT 2 2 2 An improved carrying handle for an article carrier of 1 o g 220/l 1 l 4 the type having an opening in the upper portion thereof whereby the user inserts his fingers in the opening of the carrier in order to transport the carrier. [56] References cued The carrier handle comprises a pair of inclined UNITED STATES PATENTS openings which are so designed that the tab formed from the opening bridges the gap from one side of the 1,624,439 4/1927 Senat ..229/52 B Carrier to the other Side to cushion the fi f the 1,968,877 8/1934 cybbfarley "229/52 BC user against the weight of the article. The angle of the 2,006,475 7/1935 0 Reilly ..220/ 108 tabs also allows the weight of the earrier to be evenly 2,074,477 3/1937 KOIldOlf ..206/65 E distributed on the fingers f the user since the tab 2,305,365 12/1942 Wentz ..229/52 B angle corresponds to the natural angle of the fingers in 2,537,614 1/1951 Arneson ..229/52 BC the clasped position 2,613,867 10/1952 Darr ..229/52 B 2,993,618 7/1961 Kulig ..206/65 C 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 3.698.625

sum 1 OF 2 INVENTOR EARL J. GRASER WM 5. 0mm

ATTORNEY PATENTED UN 1 7 I972 SHEET 2 BF 2 ARTICLE CARRIER HANDLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to article carriers generally ticle carrier of the type commonly used to transport packaged bottled drinks from the retailer to the con- SUI'I'IGI'.

Article carriers of the general type to which this application relates are generally made in different shapes, sizes and forms from cardboard or other paper material and are manufactured in such a manner that the consumer of the product may use the carrier to transport the soft drink to his home for consumption.

A typical article carrier of the type to which this invention relates is shown in the patent to A. H. Cubberley U.S. Pat. No. No. 1,968,877 issued Aug. 7, 1934, wherein there is shown hand grips which are provided in the sides of the carrier near the top by cutting out openings in the opposite portions of the carrier and by folding the material cut out inwardly. Such a design while providing some cushioning effect due to the inwardly folded material or tab fails to provide the full cushioning often needed with the larger size beer and soda bottles that are presently being packaged in commerce today.

A more recent type of article carrier is shown in the patent to A. B. Paredes U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,290, issued Jan. 5, 1965, which provides a somewhat stronger and more cushioned handle by spanning the gap between the two handle parts to form a stronger handle allowing greater weight to be carried with less discomfort to the user than the Cubberley invention. This design, while acceptable when packaging a six-pack of beverage such as beer, is not acceptable when it is desired to package the current threepack bottles of quart size which is becoming more and more popular today.

A somewhat different type of article carrier is shown in the patents to M. H. Kowal, U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,686 issued Oct. 10, 1950, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,712,397, issued July 5, 1955, wherein a central portion of the carrier is used as a handle with associated openings for the express purpose of carrying the package. While this type of package was sold extensively in the marketplace the carrier of the package often would experience difficulties in carrying the package since the entire weight of the package was supported by the fingers of the hand in a line contact on the fingers of the hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the problems inherent in the heretofore mentioned prior art article carriers, I have provided a new and novel improved article carrier handle having improved strength characteristics with greater cushioning effect on the fingers of the user resulting from my new and novel design utilizing principles heretofore unrecognized and which will be described in more detail throughout the specification.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a new and novel article carrier having an improved handle which allows the user of the carrier to transport the carrier with a minimum of strain on his fingers.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved article carrier which may be used in carrying bottles packaged in multiples of three or more such as is commonly packaged in the marketplace today.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will be found in the novel details of construction, combinations and arrangement of the parts of the invention by referring to the specification herebelow and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side perspective view showing a typical article carrier of the type herein described,

FIG. 2 is a partial side view of the handle portion of the carrier shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an end sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing the tab portion of the handle in the position prior to entry of the fingers of the user,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial side section of the handle area shown in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a top view on a reduced scale of a blank cut and scored prior to folding into the complete carrier.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in general and in particularly to FIG. 1 there is shown a side perspective view of the typical article carrier described herein having the improved carrying handle of my invention. The article carrier is shown generally by the reference numeral l0 and is made preferably from a single sheet of material 12 such as cardboard, composition board, or similar material. The sheet 12 is formed around a plurality of bottles 14 with the opposite ends 16 and 18 being formed around the bottom of the bottles 14 and locked together by means well known in the art and forming no part of this invention.

The sheet 12 contains a plurality of upper bottle receiving apertures 20 designed to firmly retain the neck of the bottle contained within the carrier. Also contained on the sheet 12 are a plurality of lower bottle receiving apertures 22 which are designed to retain the bottom portion of the bottles contained within the carnet.

The upper portion of the article carrier 10 comprises generally a pair of upwardly and inwardly inclined spaced apart panels 24 which contain a plurality of openings 26 formed in the upper portion thereof. The openings 26 when constructed in the manner hereinafter described form the new and novel carrying handle of the invention whereby the user of the carrier inserts his fingers in the openings and curves them up ward in order to transport the carrier. The openings 26 have formed thereon a plurality of tabs 28 on the upper portion thereof. The tabs 28 are formed by means well known in the art such as cutting a part of the material away from the sheet 12 and by bending the tabs 28 about the scored lines 30 indicated by the dashed lines shown generally in FIG. 5 of the drawing.

Referring now particularly to FIG. 2 of the drawing there is shown a partial side view of the handle portion of the carrier shown in FIG. 1 comprising the openings 26 and the tabs 28 herein described. In actual practice of the invention and in field testing of the article carrier it has been found that whenever the user of the carrier inserts his fingers in the opening 26 and curves them upwardly in order to transport the carrier there is formed a natural angle within the fingers of the hand starting between the second and third finger and extending upwardly from the second finger to the first finger and from the third finger to the fourth finger. In designing the carrying handle of the present invention it was found that the user of the carrier could transport the carrier with greater ease and comfort whenever the angle of the tabs 28 coincided with the natural angle of the clasped fingers hereinbefore described. The preferred range of this angle 32 was found from experimentation to be within the range of 140 to 160 and more preferably to be approximately 150.

In the prior art patents of Kowal hereinbefore cited it will be noted that the angle of the openings 26 is exactly opposite to that taught in this application. When the tabs 28 are formed with the score line 30 being formed at the angle 32 then each of the tabs 28 will incline upwardly and outwardly from the center of the panel 24 at an angle conforming to the natural angle of the curved fingers of the user.

The lower portion 34 of the openings 26 may be formed, as shown in FIG. 2, parallel with the top of the article carrier 10. The length 36 of the openings 26 as well as the length 38 of the distance between the openings 26 depends upon the shape of the bottle 14 contained within the article carrier as well as the neck width of the bottles.

Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawing there is shown an end sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2 and shows the tab 28 contained on the panel 24 as well as the tabs 40 similar in shape to the tabs 28 but contained on the opposite panel 24. When the tabs 28 and the tabs 40 are formed in the manner hereinbefore described it will become readily apparent that one of the tabs will cross over into the opening formed by the other tab depending upon which of the tabs are pushed through the opening by the user of the device. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 it will be seen that the tab 40 crosses within the carrier 10 and into the opening 26 positioning itself under the tab 28 thereby bridging the gap between the tabs there formed by the spaced apart upper panels 24.

It becomes apparent that the tabs formed in this manner and positioned within the openings 26 underneath the opposite tabs will tend to cushion the fingers of the user of the carrier against the weight of the article contained within the carrier whenever the tabs are also positioned at the before-mentioned angle 32. The tabs fashioned in this manner also tend to allow the weight of the contents of the carrier to be more evenly distributed on the fingers of the user thereby making the carrier easier to handle whenever the bottles contained within the carrier are transported from the store to the home of the consumer.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 5 of the drawing there is shown the sheet or blank 12 prior to being wrapped around the bottles 14 by means well known in the art. The sheet 12 contains locking means shown generally by the numeral 42 on one end of the blank and locking means shown generally by the nu meral 44 contained on the other end of the blank. The locking means 42 and 44 combine by means well known in the art to lock the sheet 12 around the bottles 14 contained within the blank.

ln juxtaposition to the locking means 42 are a plurality of lower bottle receiving apertures 22 as hereinbefore described. Also formed in juxtaposition to the locking means 44 are a plurality of lower bottle receiving apertures hereinbefore mentioned. Formed in the central portion of the sheet 12 are the plurality of upper bottle receiving apertures 20 formed along the score lines 46 indicated by the dot-dash lines shown in FIG. 5. The openings 26 forming the new and novel carrying handle of the invention are formed by the tabs 28 in juxtaposition to the bottle receiving apertures 20.

The angle 32 hereinbefore described formed between the adjacent tabs 28 is also shown'in FIG. 5 of the drawing.

From the foregoing it can be seen that there has been provided a new and novel carrying handle for a multiple article carrier of the type whereby the user of the carrier inserts his fingers in the opening provided in the handle and curves them upward in order to transport the carrier to his home. When the carrying handle of the present invention is constructed in the manner hereinbefore provided there is constructed an improved handle having a cushioning effect on the fingers of the user of the device, said cushioning effect being related to the angle of the carrying handle as well as the bridging of the gap between the pairs of adjacent panels wrapped around the upper portion of the bottles contained within the article carrier. It will be readily seen that the invention is capable of modification other than that shown in the drawings and the invention is not to be limited by the illustrated preferred embodiment but only by the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, what is claimed is:

1. In an article carrier of the type having a carrying handle containing an opening whereby the user of the carrier inserts his fingers in the opening and curves them upwards in order to transport the carrier, the improvement wherein the handle comprises:

a. A pair of upwardly and inwardly inclined spaced apart panels having a plurality of openings formed in the upper portion thereof;

. Said openings having formed thereon a plurality of tabs on the upper portion thereof;

0. Said tabs on each panel being inclined upwardly and outwardly from the center of said panel at an angle conforming to the natural angle of the curved fingers of the user;

. Said tabs on one panel being positioned substantially opposite said tabs on the other panel so that a portion of each tab on one panel is adapted to bridge the gap formed by the spaced apart panels, and position itself within the opening on the other panel thereby cushioning the fingers of the user of the carrier against the weight of the article contained within the carrier; and

e. Said angle and said tabs bridging the gap combining to allow the weight of the contents of the carrier to be evenly distributed on the fingers of the user.

2. The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein said angle is in the range of to 160.

3. The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein said angle is approximately 4. In a multiple article carrier of the type having a carrying handle containing an opening whereby the user of the carrier inserts the four fingers of his hand in the opening and curves them upwards for the purpose of transporting the carrier, the combination of the handle comprising:

each tab on one panel is adapted to bridge the gap formed by the spaced apart panels, and position itself under the tabs on the other panel thereby cushioning the fingers of the user of the carrier against the weight of the article contained within the multiple carrier; and

Said obtuse angle and said tabs bridging the gap combining to allow the weight of the contents of the multiple carrier to be evenly distributed 'on the fingers of the user. 

1. In an article carrier of the type having a carrying handle containing an opening whereby the user of the carrier inserts his fingers in the opening and curves them upwards in order to transport the carrier, the improvement wherein the handle comprises: a. A pair of upwardly and inwardly inclined spaced apart panels having a plurality of openings formed in the upper portion thereof; b. Said openings having formed thereon a plurality of tabs on the upper portion thereof; c. Said tabs on each panel being inclined upwardly and outwardly from the center of said panel at an angle conforming to the natural angle of the curved fingers of the user; d. Said tabs on one panel being positioned substantially opposite said tabs on the other panel so that a portion of each tab on one panel is adapted to bridge the gap formed by the spaced apart panels, and position itself within the opening on the other panel thereby cushioning the fingers of the user of the carrier against the weight of the article contained within the carrier; and e. Said angle and said tabs bridging the gap combining to allow the weight of the contents of the carrier to be evenly distributed on the fingers of the user.
 2. The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein said angle is in the range of 140* to 160* .
 3. The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein said angle is approximately 150* .
 4. In a multiple article carrier of the type having a carrying handle containing an opening whereby the user of the carrier inserts the four fingers of his hand in the opening and curves them upwards for the purpose of transporting the carrier, the combination of the handle comprising: a. A pair of outer upwardly and inwardly inclined, spaced apart panels having at least four openings formed in the upper portion thereof; b. Each of said openings having formed thereon a tab on the upper portion thereof; c. Said tabs on each panel being inclined upwardly and outwardly from the center of said panel at an obtuse angle conforming to the natural angle of the curved fingers of the user; d. Said tabs on one panel being positioned opposite said tabs on the other panel so that a portion of each tab on one panel is adapted to bridge the gap formed by the spaced apart panels, and position itself under the tabs on the other panel thereby cushioning the fingers of the user of the carrier against the weight of the article contained within the multiple carrier; and e. Said obtuse angle and said tabs bridging the gap combining to allow the weight of the contents of the multiple carrier to be evenly distributed on the fingers of the user. 